By Duncan Mboyah
East African conservationists have called for Lake Victoria to be considered for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage protection.
Speaking in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, advocates proposed using the upcoming 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee that started from July 19 to July 29, 2026 in Busan, Republic of Korea, as a catalyst to launch a transparent process.
They noted that their call has been occasioned by the Lake’s current state that includes threats from pollution, invasive species, overfishing, illegal fishing, deforestation, wetland loss, climate change, and fossil fuel infrastructure.
“Damage to tributaries, wetlands, catchments, and connected ecosystems can flow downstream and create cumulative, long-term impacts on fisheries, drinking water, food security, cultural sites, biodiversity, and livelihoods if the lake is not listed,” Kamotho Githinji, Executive Director of the East Africa Climate Change Network (EACCN) said.
Githinji noted that the process should recognize the Lake as a living cultural landscape worthy of fuller study, community consultation, and transboundary protection.
He observed that for communities around the lake, Lake Victoria is not simply a body of water but a source of food, water, culture, memory, livelihood, and spiritual identity.
The advocates observed that around the lake shores and islands, communities have developed fishing practices, oral traditions, rituals, ecological knowledge, and cultural relationships over generations.
They noted that Lake Victoria region is also home to important archaeological and cultural heritage. Additionally, in 2024, geometric rock art sites in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania were included on the UNESCO tentative list through coordinated transnational entries by the three countries.
“This was an important step, but the rock art should not be treated as isolated heritage sites since it is part of a wider cultural landscape shaped by Lake Victoria, and any protection effort should also consider the lake, islands, shorelines, wetlands, communities, traditions, and ecosystems that give that heritage its meaning,” they added.
They recommended that the appropriate boundaries and nomination pathway, whether cultural, natural, or mixed cultural-natural, should be determined through consultation with resident communities and indigenous peoples, scientific community, cultural mapping, ecological and hydrological analysis, livelihood studies, and expert review.
They noted that Lake Victoria’s future should be shaped by the communities who have lived with and cared for the lake across generations, and by public institutions willing to protect one of Africa’s most important freshwater systems for present and future generations.
This process, they observed, should protect customary livelihoods, recognize indigenous and local knowledge, respect women’s roles in fish economies, support youth leadership, and include safeguards against displacement, exclusionary conservation, or restrictions imposed without community consent.
The conservationists noted that because the lake feeds into the Nile River system, its protection matters beyond Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, including for downstream countries such as South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, and Nile Basin countries like Ethiopia.
Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest freshwater lake and the second largest in the world by surface area, shared by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.
It is known by names that carry deep meaning, including Nalubaale, meaning “Mother of the Gods” among the Baganda, and Nam Lolwe, meaning the “Endless Lake” among the Luo.
Its watershed includes wetlands, rivers, tributaries, islands, shorelines, cultural sites, fishing communities, and ecosystems that sustain millions of people.
